When
I reached high school, I had enough of a growth spurt to bring
me up to average size and I became an all-metro player. I
batted over.400 in high school but I enjoyed playing third
base more than anything else.

When
I got to college I became a catcher because of a broken ankle
that slowed me down.

In
my last year of college I read an article about Negro League
baseball and it soon became my passion. I wrote to libraries
across the country for information and built a huge research
collection.

I
especially was interested in the 1935 Bismarck, North Dakota
semipro team and I traveled to the North Dakota Historical
Society to look through miles of microfilm, piecing together
the story of this great team.

After
living and breathing baseball for more than 25 years now,
I truly believe that the '35 Bismarck team, featuring the
pitching staff of Satchel Paige, Double Duty, Hilton Smith,
Barney Morris and Chet Brewer, was the greatest of all time.

I
am working hard to produce a movie about this team that is
worthy of the players' accomplishments. Besides being a great
team, it was a truly integrated team 12 years before Jackie
Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the starting lineup
there were usually 4 whites and 5 blacks. Considering the
era our country was in, it is remarkable.

Since
college, in order to write my book and work on the movie,
I have delivered several thousand pizzas, cleaned the carpets
of several thousand apartments, roofed 25 houses, sheetrocked
acres of wall, broken up sidewalks, poured cement, and umpired
about a thousand games. It has all been worth it, though,
because of the incredible people I have met. I have become
good friends with Bobby Robinson, Lester Lockett, Saul Davis,
Sherwood Brewer, Connie Johnson, Joe Desiderato, Will Owen,
and many, many more. And most of all, I have become great
friends with Double Duty!

If
there are any questions you have about anything discussed
on this web site, or about any aspect of the Negro Leagues,
please feel free to contact me. I truly enjoy it!

My friends:
Double Duty, Lester Lockett, Bobby Robinson

Kyle's
favorites:

Favorite
musical performers and songs:1.
Elvis Presley, "Put the Blame on Me" and "Young
& Beautiful"
2. The Beatles, "Every Little Thing" and "Eight
Days a Week"
3. Frank Sinatra, "The Best is Yet to Come" and
"Cycles"
4. Johnny Rivers, "Swaying to the Music" and "It's
Too Late"
5. Bob Dylan, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Subterranean
Blues"